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Crops: The Alex Cropley Story

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Somerset's batters, headed by Tom Lammonby and Tom Abell's half-centuries, took advantage of a heavy-rolled pitch to bed in, show fine grit, and bolster their chances of saving a draw. Former Aston Villa legend Alex Cropley discovered driving a taxi in Edinburgh". Birmingham Mail.co.uk. He was so humble. I asked him, ‘did you actually realise how good you were?’. He replied, ‘not really, all I wanted to do was play football’.” The study suggested that 90 per cent of players carried minor injuries all the time. It also showed that nearly half of professional footballers retire with serious osteoarthritis and 15 per cent are subsequently registered disabled. British players, it discovered, were far more likely to play with pain-killing assistance than foreign players, who had known a culture of greater respect for their bodies; in Britain, the bulldog spirit was in the blood. England captain John Terry now leads the way in his determination to play on one leg; he is in the mould of former national skippers Bryan Robson and Terry Butcher, always willing to take an injection for his country, always playing hurt.

One of my indelible sporting memories is not a sight but a sound. I'm watching Aston Villa play West Bromwich Albion one grey day in 1977. The derby is always intense, but today there seems a kind of malevolence to the match, and to the crowd; you would n ot want to be out there. In the Villa midfield is a slight fi gure called Alex Cropley, a Scot who is in the form of his life. The previous season he had inspired Villa to a 5-1 win over Liverpool, the champions , and this afternoon he is making the Albion side - the team of John Wile and Len Cantello, one of the most uncompromising ever to take to a football field - look like park players. Terry was already playing with a broken toe when he was injured again just before Christmas. The healing time for a toe left to rest is generally four weeks; by taking injections - a mixture of cortisone and pain relief - and playing regardless, the healing time extends to 10 months. No one knows the long-term effects of injections, but many sports authorities, the Australian Rugby Union for example, ban them on the grounds that they are a serious risk to players' health . Here, under pressure from the media and clubs and themselves, the players know what they have to do. 'I know the risks,' Terry said recently . 'Like everyone else I have seen ex-pros in their forties and fi fties limping around crippled by their shattered knees and battered hips. That will probably be me in a few years, too. But to me that's the sacrifi ce you make for success. I want to play in every game I can - that's the mentality I have and I'll never change. And if it takes an injection - or injections - to get me out there, then that's what I'll do. Whatever it takes.' Essex only won two Championship matches at home last season and have recently gone unbeaten at Chelmsford between September 2018 and September 2022. His move from Parkhead to Easter Road in 1922 saw him part of the celebrated side that contested the 1923 and 1924 Scottish Cup Finals and he later became the first Hibs player to score 100 league goals for the club.He died in Edinburgh on 7 March 1978 aged 86. Things did not improve after lunch with George Bartlett lbw to Porter with the first ball on resumption, having previously survived some close calls while stepping across his stumps.The Stein-Turnbull tension remains fascinating. The truth is, the great Celtic man had a fear of Turnbull, and knew of his ability. Turnbull, against the odds, had already got the better of Stein on a number of occasions with Aberdeen, and had arrived at Easter Road in 1971 intent on doing further damage.

Harmer arrived at his customary River End in the 13th over and challenged Tom Kohler-Cadmore to take him on down the ground after an enterprising 32 off 39 balls in his fourth over. It was to his detriment as Ben Allison swallowed a simple catch at long on.I am hoping that there is some kind of Hall of Fame at Villa Park because this man’s name should be right up there. George Bartlett, unbeaten on 109 overnight, fell for 134, just three short of his career-best score, while Kasey Aldridge weighed in with 50. Davey then cleaned up Jake Ball and Paterson to spark joyous celebrations among the home supporters. Somerset's largest runs victories Henry, whose bowling on the second morning had changed the course of the game, took a rest having taken 2-19 from eight overs and his replacement, Aldridge, soon had Mullaney caught behind for 23. Aston Villa – Burridge, Gidman, Robson, Phillips, Nicholl, Mortimer, Deehan, Little, Gray, Cropley, Carrodus.

That came as Goldsworthy marked his first County Championship appearance of the season with 122, his second first-class century. The players involved realised how disappointing the game had been. Bob Latchford admitted “It was a horror show” and Andy Gray felt that “we had let the crowd down by dishing up a boring show”. The Liverpool Echo claimed it was “The Final ruined by tension”, the Birmingham Mail added that it was “Ninety minutes of emptiness”. Perhaps Brian Glanville summarised it best, viewing it as “dull and uneventful as a seaside town in winter”. The highlight was the referee Gordon Kew calling all 22 players together to find a pair of bandsmen’s spurs which had been lost during the half time interval! Both teams undertook a pointless lap of honour at the end, which Andy Gray refused to join. By lunch he had moved to 60 and the lead was 342. Aldridge was on 17 and the afternoon session saw the pair build another substantial stand. The twice-capped Scotland international would later move to Canada, where he featured in the North American Soccer League for Toronto Blizzard before ending his career at Portsmouth in 1982.Aston Villa – Burridge, Gidman, Robson, Phillips, Nicholl, Mortimer, Deehan, Little, Graydon, Cropley, Cowans. Everton and Aston Villa have the longest running rivalry in football. Both clubs were founder members of the original Football league in 1888 and have played more top flight matches against each other than any other team, a total which currently stands at 202. They are also the two teams that hold the record for the most seasons spent in the top division of English football, Everton with 114 and Aston Villa with 105 out of a possible 118. It is, therefore, no surprise, given the long standing rivalry between the two sides that they took part in the longest Cup Final ever played. The 1977 League Cup Final involved three matches at three different venues over a period of five weeks from the 12th of March until the 13th of April watched by an aggregate attendance of over 205,000. After hitting his fifth six Smeed holed out to Walter off Sams for 36 off 16 to make it 64-1 at the start of the sixth over but the onslaught continued. After two overs from the River End, the leg spinner switched to the Hayes Close End and two balls later influenced an edge from Bartlett which was well caught at first slip.

He had added just three runs to his tally, taking it to 1,080, by the time lunch was taken but rain began falling during the interval and then became heavier, raining for much of the afternoon before umpires Tom Lungley and Martin Saggers finally abandoned play. I was being pursued by Chelsea and Arsenal. Dave Sexton, then the Chelsea coach, came to [former Hibs chairman] Tom Hart's house and asked me to sign. But I told him I couldn't, as I knew of Arsenal's interest. They'd been after me for months. Eddie Turnbull didn't want me to sign for Arsenal. Gordon Clark, the Arsenal scout, who had watched me for months, could not get Eddie to budge. Westley decided to rest his bowlers rather than go immediately again, and in seven evening overs lost Browne leg-before to Overton. New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry pinned Division One's leading run-scorer Tom Westley leg before in the sixth over of the day.Without this flossing, she believes that many return to play with deep-seated anxieties, fears they are not consciously aware of, and these can make them stiffen in certain situations, often leading to more injury. The worst characters in this respect, she suggests, are the great natural talents, such as Paul Gascoigne or Diego Maradona, who have never had to work at their game; once they first lose faith in their bodies, they have no idea quite how to rebuild it again. It is something like a loss of innocence. And the psychological consequences on and off the fi eld can be devastating. Dawn, daughter of West Bromwich Albion legend Jeff, launched the organisation after her father death was attributed to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) - a progressive, degenerative brain disease found in individuals with a history of head injury.

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